Debate Script

Proposition: Everyone should have to play a sport.

Position: Negative

     I'm Abigail FitzGibbon and I'm debating the negative of the proposition: Everyone should have to play a sport. First, many people dislike playing sports. Second, sports uniforms can be horrible. Third, there are other, better ways to exercise besides playing sports. Fourth, playing a sport often requires that you go on sports trips, which can be unpleasant and unaffordable. This is why everyone should not have to play a sport.

     To start with, there are lots of people who find playing sports loathsome. Some consider sports pointless. Others think that it encourages an unhealthily competitive mindset. Many are not very strong or fast or have little stamina and find the physical exertion needed to ploay a sport unwelcome. There are many sports in which you have to play on a team, and more antisocial people would dislike the interaction with others that being on a team would necessitate. These are all reasons why people hate playing sports.

     Next, many sports require you to wear uniforms, and these uniforms can be appalling for a variety of reasons. Sports uniforms can be in gaudy colors or made out of uncomfortable material. They can be too big, too small, or too revealing. Also, these uniforms can be overly hot or cold, and some are very impractical. If they possess these or other flaws, sports uniforms can be simply awful.

     Also, the main purpose of sports is to help you exercise, but there are better ways to exercise that do not involve playing sports. For example, you could walk, run, hike, bike, or do a variety of other things. Such methods of exercise would not require you to pay money, wear uniforms, do things with a team, or suffer through several other common disadvantages of playing sports. Also, these exercises can be done at any time, but playing a sport can usually only be done at regularly scheduled times. For these reasons, there are much better ways to exercise than by playing sports.

     Finally, playing sports frequently means that you have to go on sports trips, which can be both terrible and impractical. Sports trips usually need you to pay money to go on them, and many families cannot afford to pay this money. However, they may feel obliged to pay if you are on a team, and this could cause a budget crisis. Also, sports trips may be repugnant to those who go on them. You might have to stay in a vile hotel, become sunburned or contract hypothermia due to severe climates, lose precious possessions due to a mishap with luggage, or experience various other nightmarish travesties. As you can see, a sports trip can be a living hell due to many things.

     Everyone should certainly not have to play a sport! If all people had to participate in sports, this could result in mass depression and ennui from those who dislike sports, a veritable plague of irritating uniforms, less use of the many superior ways to exercise, and many terrible sports trips. For the sake of our population's health, wealth and happiness, let playing a sport never be mandatory!